The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1887-07-21
THE BAHAMA BANKS.
PAST HOLE IN THE WALL ANU
ON TO CUBAS CAPITAL.
The Wonderful Work Of the Coral insect
Level rs a FIoor-Capturing Shark
The Kceper of Double SHOT Head Keys
Lighthouse and His Wife.

of us doomed the Great Stirrup Key for
midable danger TO seamen, shooting out grim
lodges which rose here and there above the
water like Black and sprawlylg tentacles OF
some monstrous devil fish: while back within
the wIfnkly rocks rose tire lighthouse, white
aud solemn as a majestic monument among
the dark and dresry hesdstones Of myriad
rotting graves Still beyond and behind. and
maybe a score Of miles away. were seen here
and there upon the flaming morning. horizon
the black silhouettes Of Struggling giant
palms and topping cocoa trees, suggesting
tired and worn sentries stark still upon some
Nile land plain. Tropic lands are kissed by
eeaseless zephyrs, intoxicated by woudrous
odors, tathed and flooded in eternal summer
but now and then the sea or land, or both,
present aspects which strike the receptive
mind with a sense Of loneliness that Is awful.
But there Is not more interesting pot on
earth or SEA than these very Bahama banks
TO know about them MS yru may by lsturey
sail over them u from four - sr1 knots an
hour. rs was made by our heavily laden but
sturdy old craft, will pay for many a rough
hours experience in advance. Everybody
knows that somewhere og our Florida coast
are the Bahama banks. but whether they are
banks Of sand, or mud, or oyster shells or are
the magical things they are. fev Int Seafaring
men know or care Even the latter are 10y
no means generally informed about them. for
vessels drawing more than fifteen feet OF
water cannot cross them. The great steam
ers bank. and ships reach Cuba from Ameri-
can. and often European ports exclusively
! - - lit p
nearly always a rough bit Of water on ac-
count Of swift Gulf Stream tides and ever
varying Withstand all other large craft
bound west from Europe hug the northern
shore Of Cuba. leaving the Bahamas away TO
the north. But schooners, brigs. hrigantnes,
barkeutines and all manner Of hsser vessels,
make this remarkable passage "aeross the
banks if sure Of fourteen or Fifteen feet ~
salt water between water line and bottom II
keel. Woe betide them, though, for any mis-
calculation: for. while the tslmy trade winds
ever blow favorahly, and the path from Hole
IN the Wall Cubaward is as plain, as level and
as sure as paved, endless street % a horse
man. many and many q skipper bold. who
has Thought there was "wet' enough on the
| hanks 10 float hts vessel, whether the hydrog-
rapher. who have sounded every ships
/ lenrth over the submerged continent -aid so
or not. has of a sudden heard tho keel II his
craft grind into the finty coral. and, 5tanch
AS she might be, come 10 q grooming halt, 20
bq beaten to pieces by the waves or become
plsiler for the wreckers The latter lie IN
wait for iuf such reckless sea captains on
every band behind the keys, and once L.,
vessels bottom get caught h the cora teeth
Of tue banks. in almost on tsstasts IN every
| direction the horizon via We aotfsd With the
smart .ans Of rakish craft, I'll svcoping down
like vulturos upon their prey
The Bahama banks proper begin Of Natl
nella. opposite the Florida bay 4 ~. Lucie.
ihov extend I'm a southeasterly direction.
gradually increasing in With 70 a poiu; OPP
.r.itn tic southeast coast Of Florida from
/ thence growing narrower and preserving
strface regularity generally conforming With
t,e chain ~ islands themselves, terminating
/ j., Nayidad bank Just above he northeast
coast Of Cuba. Their length is nearly 1000
miles and their width varies from fifty 20 2lO
miles. 10 the east they merge into the Ba-
h,tna Islands. but on the west ssuniings Of
500 fathoms have been made from the almost
nerueudicular sides Of the marvellous crea-
/ tions of marine life; for every atom OF this
almost inconceivable formation f. the result
/ Of insect labor
To secure some little idea Of this deep sea
wonder close your eyes for moment and
/ imagine a chain Of mountains, thousands Of
| feet in height, against one side Of which
stand, tn'ecipitOus mass like foSsiized honey
comb. white As snow, extending thousands Of
miles. ami rising Ike a wall 70 nearly the
elevation Of the highest peaks, and whose
upper surface, for all this distance, Is as level
os n floor. That is exactly what You could
500 here. could the ocean be sucked dry, and
Won be allowed % stand iu the tremendous
/ channel where the Gulf Aream chafes and
surges eternally.
The width of the banks Of Hole In the
! Wall is no more than seventy-aye miles; but
the course sailed without exception by vessels
bound for Cuba bears go far to the south
that the distance IS tribe over l25 miles.
Every inch of this alabaSter like surface can
be seen from your vessels deck. Station
sailor amidships and let him "heave the lead
every five minutes during the whole distance,
and he will call out all day long: Two an
a half fathom. sirls Two an three quarter
fatbom. sirm Two an a half, sir9-'an
three quarter sirin until the sameness In tone
and depth would be startling
The water itself is remarkable IN brilliancy
Of color and translucence. Such shades Of
green were never elsewhere seen. The lace
ike fringes Of every wave cap or rolling
scroll Of water Is seen threaded with emerald,
gsttering among the snowy white with a
sparklc. gleam and simmer that are entranc-
inc And what II rare and wondrous treat it
is 10 stand the day through az the vessel rails
and Deer down into this crystal space where
the witehing forms Of sea life move IN their
eternal WAYS aud silences, with such friendly,
such loving nearnessl Why, il seems that
Won can step out upon that binding heor
~ wbite. and wander az Will with these spritee
Of the sea You feel that you can reach over
there and drag your hand softly over those
dark MASSES Of sponge which now and then
the ysssel presses beneath Is, and, with the
So. u nee with which you used to catch min
noSs when a boy, YOU could take mackerel
humniing bird fsh, sun fish, and hundred
other dazzling. unnamed mites which ssucily
flash their gorgeous colors IN your very eyes
and Won thrill TO do il. 10 me- This Was a
dav OF DAYS, all too short, bat one OF tho~e
DAYS i'm a mans life which, from it, hint Of
-. ,,..,.,..r Ions farms and curiO,itip- ia ma